The Loudest Voice
by WinterSky101
Summary: A WtNV fic. Cecil loses his voice after he's attacked. Considering it's Night Vale, everything spirals out of control after that. Cecil/Carlos.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a fic that I started a really long time ago - as in, I think I wrote the first chapter about a year and a half ago. Thus, a lot of it has been Jossed, but changing it to fit canon would require rewriting basically all of it, so I've kept it as it is. It takes place before Strex and Desert Bluffs invade Night Vale (thus before the second anniversary), but Dana is back in Night Vale. (I told you it was Jossed.) Also, Old Woman Josie is Dana and Tamika's grandmother and the two of them are cousins because I love the idea of the three of them being a badass family.**

 **This work will have 10 chapters in all. Updates will occur daily.**

The title comes from a quote by Leroy Browlow (whom I know nothing about, but I like the quote): "There are times when silence has the loudest voice."

 **Disclaimer: I don't own WtNV.**

* * *

Carlos was a little irked when he got a phone call from Cecil in the middle of his highly-sensitive experiment. He had _told_ Cecil not to call him unless it was an emergency. Carlos let the phone ring until the call went to voicemail.

It was only a minute later that it hit Carlos with all the subtlety of a tiny projectile in the bowling ball retrieval area of the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex (Carlos's metaphors had gotten a lot more specific recently) that, considering it was Night Vale, there could very well have been an emergency and, more to the point, Cecil could be calling because he was in danger. The experiment was at a relatively stable point, so Carlos grabbed his phone and called Cecil back.

"Cecil? Is something wrong?"

 _"It's not Cecil, and hell yeah there's something wrong,"_ a voice replied. Carlos's blood went cold. It was Old Woman Josie, calling with Cecil's phone and saying something was wrong.

Well, shit.

"Miss Josie," Carlos said politely, but with a clear undercurrent of worry in his voice. "Um, what's going on? Why do you have Cecil's phone?"

 _"I think you'd better get over here,"_ Old Woman Josie suggested grimly. Carlos could feel the blood drain from his face. He quickly neutralized the chemicals on his experiment, barely mourning the loss of data, and sprinted out of his lab. Old Woman Josie's house wasn't far from Carlos's lab, but it seemed to take an unbearably long amount of time to get from one place to the other.

There were a few angels hanging around Old Woman Josie's house, as usual, and normally Carlos would have stopped too look (who cared if the City Council said angels didn't exist? They were right there and they clearly did, so Carlos would study them if he wanted to). This time, however, Carlos ignored the angels completely in favor of running to the door and pounding on it. Old Woman Josie opened it, looking grave.

"Where's Cecil?" Carlos demanded. Old Woman Josie stepped aside and Carlos could see Cecil lying on her couch, deathly pale and still. "Cecil!" Carlos cried, running to his side.

"Erika found him in the used car lot and brought him inside," Old Woman Josie told him. "Looks like he was attacked." Carlos could see that himself; Cecil's shirt was torn and bloodied and there was a ring of bruises around his neck. It looked like someone tried to strangle him.

"Do you have, um, any idea who did this?" Carlos asked, trying and failing pathetically in sounding like he wasn't panicking internally (and externally, really) over Cecil's condition. Old Woman Josie shook her had.

"I can't think of anyone who'd want to hurt Cecil like this."

"What about, um, Steve Carlsberg? Don't he and Cecil hate each other?" Carlos asked. He'd never actually spoken to Steve Carlsberg, but considering how much Cecil hated him, Carlos wasn't willing to trust Steve on much of anything.

"Nah, Steve Carlsberg wouldn't do something like this. He and Cecil don't like each other, but they don't hate each other this much," Old Woman Josie replied. "Hasn't Cecil told you about why he hates him?"

"No," Carlos replied, his curiosity piqued. "Whenever I try to bring him up, Cecil makes me stop. What happened?"

"That's not important right now," Old Woman Josie dismissed, and Carlos immediately realized that yes, she was right, that was far from important when Cecil was lying on the couch, pale as a corpse. And he had to stop making the death metaphors, because they were only serving to freak him out more.

"We shouldn't take him to the hospital," Old Woman Josie added. Carlos nodded. It hadn't even occurred to him to do that, not with Night Vale's hospital. He doubted Cecil would ever come out, or if he did, he wouldn't be the same.

"Should we try and take care of him ourselves?" Carlos asked. Old Woman Josie shrugged.

"I guess that's all we can do."

Old Woman Josie got a towel that Carlos used to wipe away the blood on Cecil's chest. The cuts weren't serious, thank God, and Cecil didn't actually seem to have that much damage. Carlos just hoped there wasn't anything internal. Given his luck (and the way Night Vale tended to work), there probably would be.

Cecil began to stir a little under Carlos's ministrations. "Cecil?" Carlos murmured, stroking his cheek gently. "Cecil, can you wake up for me?"

"Carlos," Cecil croaked. Or, at least, Carlos _thought_ that was what he was trying to say. The voice that attempted to speak Carlos's name was nothing like the voice that was normally on the radio. For a moment, Carlos was worried, but he assumed it was a temporary thing. It had to be, right?

"Cecil, I'm right here," Carlos soothed. "I'm right here. You're okay. Don't try to talk."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Cecil's eyes went wide, all three of them. Only a croak escaped his mouth again when he tried to speak. Carlos couldn't help but feel worried. Was Cecil's voice... No. It couldn't be gone. It couldn't be.

"Cecil, it's okay," Carlos soothed. Cecil's tattoos were an anxious orange. "You're okay. Just calm down, okay?"

"What's wrong with him?" Old Woman Josie asked. Carlos turned to her.

"Can you get him a glass of water?" he requested. Old Woman Josie went to her kitchen instantly.

Cecil made the croaking noise that sounded vaguely like Carlos' name again. "Shh, shh," Carlos soothed. "Don't try to talk, sweetheart." Cecil's eyes were wide and scared. "It'll be alright," Carlos added. "Just rest."

"I've got him some water," Old Woman Josie called, entering the room. "Here." She passed the cup to Carlos. He carefully allowed Cecil to drink. Cecil gulped it down. Carlos felt a tiny part of him relax; at least there wasn't damage to the esophagus. His trachea, on the other hand... Cecil's breaths sounded painful and forced, and his voice was so raw. Carlos tried to convince himself it wouldn't be permanent, but he couldn't help but worry it would be.

"Cecil, who should do the show tonight?" Old Woman Josie asked. Carlos shoved Cecil a pad and a pen before he could speak, grateful that the on-again, off-again ban on writing utensils was currently not in effect.

 _Intern Dana,_ Cecil wrote neatly on the pad. Old Woman Josie nodded. Dana had returned to Night Vale a week before, after her time in the Dog Park. Cecil had found her outside the radio station, a tan jacket draped over her. They had no idea so far if the tan jacket belonged to the Man in the Tan Jacket, but Dana sort of remembered talking with someone who she _thought_ was wearing a tan jacket, so he was the leading suspect. Whatever had caused it, Dana was back in Night Vale and had resumed her place as intern. Cecil had told Carlos confidentially that he thought she was a good contender for the next Voice of Night Vale. Carlos thought she was incredible. He had been one of the people that threw food in to her while she was in the Dog Park, and he was glad she was okay.

"I'll get Tamika to tell her," Old Woman Josie told Cecil. She was, Carlos had learned recently, Dana's grandmother, and Dana was, Carlos had also learned recently, Tamika Flynn's cousin. Carlos had never made the connection, but he had to admit there was a family resemblance.

Old Woman Josie stepped out of the room to contact Tamika. Carlos ran his fingers through Cecil's hair gently.

"Oh, Cecil," he sighed. "I'm so sorry about what happened."

 _Not your fault,_ Cecil wrote on the pad, showing it to Carlos.

"I'm still sorry," Carlos replied, pressing a gentle kiss to Cecil's forehead. Cecil smiled softly.

 _How long until my voice is okay again?_ he asked. Carlos shrugged.

"Shouldn't be too long." He was proud that his voice didn't waver once. In truth, he had no idea how long it would take for Cecil to heal, or even if he would heal at all. But he would. He _had_ to. Especially considering this was Night Vale. Surely Station Management had some sort of ritual they could do, if Cecil's voice really was permanently damaged. There had to be some way to fix it. There _had_ to.

"Carlos?" Old Woman Josie called. Carlos stood quickly. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"I'll be right back, Cecil," Carlos said, dropping a quick kiss on Cecil's forehead (although it was carefully not on his third eye). He walked into the kitchen with Old Woman Josie and slumped once he was out of Cecil's line of vision, leaning forward on a chair.

"How is he?" Old Woman Josie asked quietly. Carlos sighed.

"I don't know how much internal damage was done. He seems mostly okay, but there seems to be some damage done to his trachea and maybe his larynx."

"His what and his what?" Old Woman Josie asked. Carlos waved a dismissive hand.

"Windpipe and vocal cords."

"But if there's damage to his vocal cords..." Old Woman Josie's voice trailed off. Carlos nodded.

"He could lose the ability to speak."

Saying the words out loud made them sound so cold, so final. Old Woman Josie looked stricken.

"But what would happen if the Voice of Night Vale didn't have a voice?" she asked in a hushed voice. Carlos shrugged.

"We'd get a new Voice, I guess."

"A new Voice only comes around after the old Voice's contract is ended," Old Woman Josie replied. "And that's not for a while."

"But if something like this happens-"

"Not meeting the contract is a felony," Old Woman Josie interrupted. Carlos's eyes went wide. "No exceptions."

"That's insane!"

"That's Night Vale," Old Woman Josie replied with a sigh.

"But in this situation, he physically can't do the broadcast. Doesn't that change things?"

Old Woman Josie shrugged. "Maybe. You need to take your case to Station Management. But I would wait a bit. Cecil never takes a day off, so he's got some vacation days stored up. Dana can do the broadcast for those."

"Okay. And he might be okay. He might not have permanent damage." Carlos wasn't good at being optimistic. Old Woman Josie could tell.

"What should we tell Cecil?" she asked.

"Nothing. Not until we know something for certain," Carlos replied. Old Woman Josie sighed.

"It'll crush him."

"He'll be okay," Carlos replied, although he didn't quite believe it himself. He stepped out of the kitchen when Old Woman Josie didn't respond. Cecil was still on the couch. He was doodling on the pad, seeming to be lost in thought. "Cecil?" Carlos asked.

Cecil looked up, beaming. He seemed to have gone back to his normal, cheery self fairly quickly. _What did you and Old Woman Josie talk about?_ he asked. Carlos sighed.

"Nothing," he replied. "But Cecil, I need to ask you something and you need to answer me."

Cecil's brow creased slightly. _What?_ he wrote.

"Who attacked you?"

Cecil shrugged. _I don't remember,_ he wrote. Carlos frowned.

"How can you not remember?"

Cecil shrugged again. _Spell?_ he asked. _Spells of that sort are illegal, but so is trying to kill the Voice of Night Vale._ A side bit of Carlos' brain noticed that Cecil didn't say murder was illegal, just killing the Voice, but that wasn't too important. The important part was figuring out what happened to Cecil. Carlos could panic about Night Vale's laws (or lack thereof) later.

 _Can I sleep for a while?_ Cecil wrote, tapping Carlos's shoulder. _I'm exhausted. Nearly dying does that to you, I've found._ Carlos nodded absently.

"Sure, go ahead," he replied. Almost immediately, Cecil closed his eyes and fell asleep. Carlos leaned back, sighed, and wondered what the hell had happened this time around.


	2. Chapter 2

Dana came over to visit about half an hour after Cecil fell asleep. The radio show wasn't until later that night, and while Dana was going to do it, she had nothing else planned until then.

"How is he?" Dana asked. Carlos sighed, immediately knowing what she was asking.

"He can't speak," he replied. "We're hoping it's temporary."

"I checked the records," Dana told him. "Cecil's never taken a day off before. He's got over three months of vacation time saved up. I can do the show until he's able."

"Thank you," Carlos replied fervently. Dana shrugged it off.

"No big deal. I've always wanted to give a broadcast. Although I never wanted it to be under these circumstances."

"Cecil says trying to kill the Voice is illegal," Carlos put in. Dana nodded.

"It's a perk of the job." Carlos bit back his panicked comment. "We should go to the Sheriff's Secret Police, if you haven't already."

"I'm not quite sure how to contact them," Carlos replied. Dana laughed.

"Oh, it's easy." She stuck her head out the door. "Officer Jackson!"

One of the Sheriff's Secret Police officers came out from behind a used car. "Yes, Miss Flynn?"

"Dana, please," Dana corrected. "Cecil Palmer was attacked."

"The Voice was attacked?" Officer Jackson gasped. Dana nodded. "When?"

"Around a half hour ago," Carlos replied. Officer Jackson nodded sharply.

"What were the specifics of the attack?" Dana nodded to Carlos.

"Multiple shallow lacerations to the chest," Carlos replied, the clinical terms making it seem a bit less personal. "And attempted strangulation with lingering damage to the trachea and larynx."

"I'll get the other officers on it right away. You should file a report too. Where is the Voice?"

"Cecil's sleeping," Carlos replied. Officer Jackson nodded.

"Well, here's the report you'll need to fill out," he said, pulling a tiny, folded piece of paper out of his pocket and tossing it to Carlos. It was about an inch by an inch in size. "When Mr. Palmer wakes up, you should have him do it as soon as possible."

"Alright," Carlos replied.

"Thank you, Officer," Dana added. Officer Jackson bowed slightly.

"Just doing my job," he replied, returning to his position behind a used car. Carlos turned to Dana, who was already opening the door and stepping into Old Woman Josie's house.

"Unfold the form," Dana told Carlos as they entered the living room. "You can fill out some of it, and then Cecil can finish it when he wakes up." Carlos began to unfold the form and wasn't nearly surprised enough when he found that, according to the laws of physics, a form that large should not have been able to have been folded up that small. Night Vale was clearly getting to him. Carlos diligently began filling out the basic information as Dana talked with Old Woman Josie. He kept half an eye on Cecil the whole time. (Not literally, though; Night Vale hadn't gotten to him that much.) Despite that, however, Dana was the first one to notice that Cecil was waking up.

"Carlos," she called as Cecil began to stir. Immediately, Carlos got to his feet and crossed the room to the couch.

"Hi, Cecil," Dana said softly as Cecil's eyes fluttered open. Cecil smiled, but he didn't try to speak. Instead, he mimed writing in the air. Carlos handed him the pen and pad.

 _Are you doing the broadcast, Dana?_ he wrote. Dana nodded.

"Anything special I should know before I do it?" she asked. Cecil began scrawling on the pad and, after a few moments, showed no signs of stopping. Dana chuckled.

"I'm doing one broadcast, and I'll mostly be reading off of your notes anyway. You even have some prerecorded statements that I'll probably air. You don't need to write me a novel." Cecil waved Dana off and continued writing. Carlos barely hid a smile.

"You should probably leave him for a while," he told Dana jokingly. "He could write about hosting the show for hours." Dana giggled. Cecil gave Carlos a disdainful look. He continued scribbling on the paper, then he tore the sheet out with a flourish and handed it to Dana.

"Thanks," Dana told him with a smile. Cecil jabbed at one point on the list. Dana looked ready to tear up as she read it. "Thank you," she repeated. Cecil grinned at her. Carlos didn't feel it was his place to ask, so he didn't mention it.

 _Beautiful Carlos, what are we going to do next?_ Cecil wrote, turning the pad towards Carlos. The epithet made him blush, as it always did.

"I don't think you should be living on your own until we find out who did this," Carlos replied. "I've got a spare bedroom in my apartment." Cecil's eyes went wide.

 _Carlos, are you asking me to move in with you? Oh, how romantic!_ Carlos chuckled slightly. It was so like Cecil to focus on the romantic aspect and not the fact that he had been attacked.

"I'd also like to run a few tests on you to see what sort of damage was inflicted, if you don't mind. I'm not a medical doctor, but I do know a bit about human anatomy."

 _Run whatever tests you'd like, darling Carlos,_ Cecil wrote, seeming unconcerned. Sudden guilt hit Carlos as it occurred to him that Cecil honestly thought his voice would return soon. Carlos should have told him the truth. But he couldn't bring himself to do that, to tell Cecil that he might never be able to speak again. It would crush him, and Carlos didn't want to be the one that delivered the news. He didn't want to be the one to hurt Cecil that much.

"I can help you move anything you need from Cecil's apartment to yours, Carlos," Dana offered. Carlos gave her a weak smile.

"Thanks," he replied. "Cecil, what do you think you need from your apartment?"

 _Just the essentials,_ Cecil replied dismissively. _Toothbrush, some clothes, my bloodstone circle, etc._

"Why don't you make a quick list?" Carlos suggested.

"I have to go to the radio station," Dana added, going over to the door. "See you later, Cecil."

"I'll walk you there," Carlos offered. "Whoever attacked Cecil might have been going for him because he does the broadcast. That would mean you're next, Dana."

"Alright," Dana replied, seeming fairly unconcerned. Carlos had to admit that she probably didn't need protection, but he needed a bit of time to decompress. He couldn't exactly do that while Cecil was right next to him. "Shall we?"

Carlos opened the door for Dana, who smiled and muttered something about how "quaint" that was. Once they were out of the house, however, she rounded on Carlos.

"Cecil's voice," she hissed. "Will it be okay?"

"I don't know," Carlos replied desperately. Dana began walking and Carlos quickly took off with her.

"Because he needs to fulfill his contract. I'm sure Grandma Josie explained it."

"She did. I just don't know what to do." Carlos sighed and dragged a hand over his face. "I've got a couple of tests I can run, but beyond that..."

"You'll figure out something," Dana replied, her voice falsely hopeful. "I'm sure you will. You've always fixed things before."

"I'm a scientist, not a doctor," Carlos replied. "Well, I mean, I have a doctorate, but I'm not a medical doctor. I don't know what to do."

"You'll figure it out," Dana replied. "Please tell me you'll figure it out."

"I'll try my hardest," Carlos promised. Dana sighed.

"Is that the best you can do?" Carlos shrugged helplessly.

"I won't promise a miracle I can't perform," he replied. Dana nodded.

"I understand. I'll hope for the best, shall I?"

"There's not much else we can do," Carlos replied. Dana grinned wryly.

"Oh, we'll find something. This is Night Vale, after all."

Carlos would never admit to the shiver that ran down his spine at her words.


	3. Chapter 3

Carlos stumbled into his bedroom, feeling like there wasn't quite enough air. Cecil was in the spare room, sleeping peacefully, blissfully unaware of what Carlos had just discovered.

"It must be wrong," Carlos muttered to himself, raking his fingers through his hair. "It must be."

But he had the scans right in front of him, multiple ones, that all showed the same thing.

Cecil's larynx was crushed.

Somehow, he could still breathe normally. Thank God for small miracles and all that. But speaking didn't seem likely, ever. Carlos didn't know what to do.

With a choked sigh, Carlos leaned against the door and sank down to the floor. Cecil would never speak again. How could Carlos tell him that? How could he do it? Cecil would be crushed, no pun intended. And Carlos would have to be the cause of it.

There was a knock on the door. "Carlos?" Dana called. She must have come over to visit. "Carlos, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Carlos choked out. Dana jiggled the doorknob. Carlos was glad he had locked it.

"Carlos, what is it?" Dana sounded worried. "Let me in!"

"Go away, Dana," Carlos called, his voice cracking on the last syllable.

"Is this about the tests?" Dana asked suddenly, her voice anxious. Carlos's breathing hitched.

"Yes," he whispered. He could hear Dana sitting on the other side of the door.

"What do they show?" she asked. Carlos sighed, leaning his head back.

"His larynx is crushed," he whispered. "His voice box. Which means his vocal cords won't work, which means he can't speak." Dana gasped.

"And there's nothing..."

"I don't think so."

"Can I see the scans?" Dana asked. Carlos stuffed them under the door, unwilling to go through the effort of standing up and opening the door. He could hear Dana flipping the pages.

"This isn't natural," she muttered. Carlos frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, look at it. The voice box... It's like something's constricting it. Like someone's got their hands around it and squeezing."

"What do you mean?" Carlos asked. Dana slid one of the scans back under the door.

"Look at this. It looks like someone's squeezing his voice box."

Carlos looked. He had to admit, Dana was right. "But that's not possible," he replied automatically.

"Well, it's certainly not legal," she corrected. "Especially if you do it to the Voice. With a normal citizen, you might be able to get away with it, depending on who you curse and what spell you use. But being the Voice means that you have your own laws, and any sort of spell that interferes with the Voice's ability to speak is strictly illegal. Whoever this is, they clearly don't care about any legal repercussions."

"But it is possible?" Carlos asked. Dana sighed.

"Looks like a curse to me. I don't know what curse it is, though. Cecil might. He knows more about that than I do."

"Should we tell him?" Carlos asked, studying the scan. "I mean, what if we're wrong? I don't want to give him false hope."

"Well, we have to figure out more about this curse somehow," Dana replied. "I think it probably is a curse. It looks like one to me. But if you don't want to ask Cecil, we can find someone else."

"Who knows a lot about curses?" Carlos asked.

"My grandmother does," Dana replied. "We can talk to her and her angels that definitely don't exist."

"When should we do it?" Carlos asked. He could hear Dana standing on the other side of the door.

"No time like the present," she replied. "Let's go now."

"But Cecil's sleeping," Carlos protested. "I don't want to leave him here alone."

"He'll be fine," Dana replied. "Remember, you've got five Secret Police officers outside your house, and you've been outfitted with a new lock on your door. Plus, you've got a lock on Cecil's door for extra precaution. It'll be fine."

"I don't want anything else to happen to him," Carlos replied, even as he unlocked the door. Dana smiled wryly at him as he opened it.

"Look at it this way," she replied. "If you stay, you can't stop anything from happening to Cecil. If you go, you can fix this. Your choice."

"I hate that you're right," Carlos groaned, grabbing his lab coat and pulling it on. He'd noticed that residents disliked it when he didn't wear the lab coat; they seemed disconcerted. To make things easier, he just always wore it.

"Let's go," Dana urged, striding out of the house. Carlos followed her.

"Officer Marcel!" he called as they left. His usual Secret Police officer stepped out from behind a trash can.

"Yes, Mr. Scientist?" he asked, inclining his head slightly.

"Dana and I are going to visit Old Woman Josie, so the only inhabitant of the house is Cecil. We should be back before too long."

"We'll be extra careful," Officer Marcel promised. Carlos nodded once, then Dana grabbed his hand and pulled him away. They climbed into Carlos's car and drove off.

"So what do you think your grandmother can do for Cecil?" Carlos asked. Dana shrugged.

"I don't know, but she and her not-real angels know a lot." Carlos wondered why everyone was so quick to disclaim that the angels weren't real when they clearly were. Then again, he had never been through reeducation, so he didn't know what would happen if he proclaimed the angels to be real. Perhaps the disclaimer was a good idea.

Dana and Carlos were silent through the rest of the drive to Old Woman Josie's. When they pulled up, she was waiting outside.

"Officer Jackson told me you two were coming," she explained. "Is this about Cecil?"

"Yes," Dana replied. "Look at these." She held out the scans as they entered the house. Old Woman Josie raised an eyebrow.

"A constriction curse?" she asked. Dana frowned.

"Maybe, but it seems more specified. A constriction curse would affect the whole area, but this is centralized. It's just affecting the voice box."

"I have an idea." Old Woman Josie grabbed a book off her shelf. Carlos watched with wide eyes as she flipped through it, revealing pictures and chapter titles that made him glad Old Woman Josie seemed to like him. Finally, she stopped, smoothing the pages open.

"Look," she told Dana, whose eyes went wide.

"Really?" she gasped. "You think..."

"It fits the symptoms," Old Woman Josie replied. "It's difficult, but not impossible."

"What is it?" Carlos asked. Dana and Old Woman Josie both turned to look at him.

"A silencing spell," Old Woman Josie told him. "A powerful one, too, that works physically instead of mentally."

"Okay," Carlos replied, a little lost. "Then why are you so surprised?"

"Because this spell's been lost for decades," Dana replied. "No one's done it since The Incident in 1937." Carlos decided not to ask for details. "When that happened, the information on the spell was removed from all books and placed in a special vault in the library. Even this book just says it exists, and the rest of the information is now a recipe for marinated chicken."

"It's a good recipe," Old Woman Josie added. "I've made it a few times. A little too dry for my tastes, but not bad."

"So what do we do about the spell?" Carlos asked, wanting to get the conversation back on track. As much as he wanted to know about the spell, he knew it wasn't safe to go to the library.

Dana grinned widely, pulling out her cellphone. "I'm gonna get my cousin."


	4. Chapter 4

"This is a terrible idea!" Carlos hissed as he followed Dana and Tamika towards the library the next morning. The two shushed him immediately. "I can't believe we're doing this."

"Shut up!" Tamika snapped in a low voice. "You can't let them hear you!"

"Can they hear me from here?" Carlos demanded, looking around. They were still outside of the library, so he thought they were safe. If they weren't, Carlos would panic even more than he already was.

"Maybe," Dana replied, which didn't help Carlos at all. "No one really knows what the librarians are capable of."

"Not much," Tamika muttered, pointing at the the severed librarian hand on its rope around her neck.

"We can't underestimate them," Dana rebuked softly. "We don't want any of us to get hurt."

"Yeah, yeah," Tamika replied, sounding supremely disinterested. "If you two are smart, we'll be okay."

Carlos wasn't all that reassured, but he nodded anyway. Dana grinned wryly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll probably be okay," she told Carlos. It wasn't as reassuring as she wanted it to be. Carlos smiled tightly at her in response.

"I'm gonna go scout the library quickly," Tamika told them. "Be right back."

"Be careful," Dana warned. Tamika gave her a sarcastic salute as she began creeping forward.

"How do you not freak out every time she does this?" Carlos asked Dana softly, knowing that Dana and Tamika were close, and really more like sisters than cousins.

"Oh, I do," Dana replied. "But I know she can handle it. She's done it before. She's a strong kid. We're a strong family."

"I can't argue with that," Carlos replied. Dana grinned.

"So I let her do this, as long as she's careful."

"It's not like you could stop me anyway," Tamika added, her sudden appearance making Carlos jump. "The coast seems clear. Let's go."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Carlos muttered to himself as he followed Dana and Tamika. The library looked very foreboding that close up. Carlos had hoped to never see the library without a solid twenty feet between him and the doors. The distance was now more like ten feet, and he was walking in entirely the wrong direction.

Carlos bit back his continuing comments on how monumentally stupid it was to enter a library full of chimera-like creatures, keeping them to himself. Dana and Tamika were both ahead of him, and Carlos couldn't help but think about how easy it would be to slip away from them. But he couldn't. This was for Cecil. There was nothing (well, _almost_ nothing) Carlos wouldn't do for Cecil. Breaking into a library full of chimera librarians? If it got Cecil his voice back, it was worth it. Carlos just really hoped he wouldn't die.

"Let's go!" Tamika hissed, darting forward. Dana followed her, and, against his better judgement, Carlos ran over as well. Tamika led them to a back door that they snuck through, and that was it. They were in the library.

"This way," Dana whispered, taking the lead. "The books are downstairs."

"The librarians mostly stay upstairs, I think," Tamika added. "So we should be safe." Carlos bit back his slightly hysterical comment. "As safe as we can be, anyway," Tamika added, giving Carlos a wicked look.

"Don't scare him," Dana scolded. Carlos didn't need Tamika to make him scared; he was terrified already.

Quietly, the three crept down towards the staircase. "Hide!" Tamika suddenly hissed. Carlos and Dana ducked aside as a librarian lumbered by. Carlos held his breath, not even daring to blink. The librarian passed. Tamika gestured when they could leave and they snuck towards the stairs.

"Go!" Tamika hissed, waving Dana and Carlos to go faster. Carlos wasn't about to disobey. As quietly and as quickly as they could, the three made it over to the stairs.

"I am never doing this again," Carlos whispered as Dana picked the lock on the door. Tamika glared at him to get him to shut up. Carlos did, repeating the promise to himself silently. Next time, Tamika and Dana could do this on their own. If Carlos had his way, he'd never enter the library again.

Dana got the door open and waved Carlos and Tamika down the stairs, with her bringing up the rear as she closed the door. The stairway was pitch black, as if everything weren't terrifying enough already. Carlos followed Tamika and Dana down into the basement.

"Alright," Dana whispered. "Carlos, we're going to look for anything concerning the spell. Tamika, you keep watch, okay?"

"Will do," Tamika replied. Carlos followed Dana towards a huge room full of chests.

"They should be in some sort of order," Dana replied quietly. Scanning her surroundings, she let out a triumphant noise. "Ah! There we go." Dana grabbed a packet that was hanging from a nail on the wall and flipped through it. "Alright. Silencing spell is chest seventy-two." Luckily, the rows were marked, so Carlos and Dana just had to find the row for chests fifty to seventy-five.

Dana found it first, calling to Carlos for him to meet her. They found the chest, Dana picked the lock, and they opened up the chest.

Carlos didn't know exactly what he was expecting. He had been thinking that perhaps the box would scream when they opened it, or explode, or set off an alarm. All it did was creak open and sit there.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Carlos stated. Dana grinned.

"Yeah, kinda." She began to sift through the things in the chest, flipping through pieces of typewritten paper. Carlos joined her, even though he really didn't know what he was supposed to be looking for. Finally, however, Dana let out a triumphant "yes!" that made Carlos look up.

"Found it," she stated, grabbing the papers and stuffing them in her pocket. "This packet is what we need. The rest can go back in the chest." Carlos and Dana put all the papers in the chest, Dana locked it again, and they crept back to Tamika, who was still keeping watch.

"About time," she grumbled. Dana sighed.

"Come on. Let's get out of here."

The words were possibly the most beautiful ones Carlos had ever heard.


	5. Chapter 5

"So, can we break the spell?" Carlos asked Dana once they had returned to Old Woman Josie's house and started looking over the papers they had stolen. Dana continued poring over the papers.

"I don't know," she replied. "I think so. I'm gonna go ask Grandma Josie."

"I'm gonna go back home to check on Cecil," Carlos replied, pushing the papers back towards Dana. "I don't understand any of this anyway. Text me if you figure out anything new."

"I'll call," Dana corrected. "Texts are lasting evidence of what we were talking about. We don't want that. Breaking into the library to go into the secret vaults that everyone knows about is illegal, after all."

"This town is so strange," Carlos complained to himself as he left, waving goodbye to Dana. He walked back to his house, as it was close. A few people waved as he passed them. By virtue of his relationship with Cecil, Carlos had become almost like a town celebrity. Everyone knew him, although, to tell the truth, they all knew about him before he and Cecil started dating. It really wasn't Carlos' relationship with Cecil that made him so popular; it was Cecil's obsession with him.

Carlos meant the word "obsession" in the nicest way possible.

When Carlos got back home, Cecil was sitting at his kitchen table, a mug of coffee in his hands. It was still fairly early. Carlos wondered how much Cecil had slept and how long he had been awake.

 _Where were you?_ Cecil wrote on the pad next to him.

"With Dana," Carlos replied. He and Dana had decided that, for as long as they could, they wouldn't tell Cecil that they thought he was cursed. They didn't want to get his hopes up that they could fix it.

 _I found these,_ Cecil added, pushing a few papers forward. Carlos' heart caught in his throat as he recognized the x-rays. _When were you going to tell me?_

"Look, Cecil, I know they look bad, but..." Carlos' voice trailed off; he didn't have much of an excuse. Cecil started scribbling on his pad again.

 _Don't I deserve to know the results of my own x-rays?_ Cecil had written, his handwriting bold and angry. _You should have shown me, no matter how bad they were._

"I was going to, I promise," Carlos replied desperately. And he would have, eventually. "But Cecil, they're not what you think. Dana and I think it's a spell-"

 _Obviously,_ Cecil scribbled quickly, holding up his pad. _It looks like it might be a constriction curse, but it's too centralized._

"That's what Old Woman Josie said too!" Carlos replied. "She and Dana think it's a silencing spell."

Cecil was stunned. _A what?_ he wrote, underling the word boldly.

"A silencing spell," Carlos repeated. "I know that they've been illegal since 1937, but Dana and I went to the library and found the information on it." Cecil's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Dana's going through it now."

 _You went into the secret vaults in the library?_ Cecil wrote. His writing was spikier than normal. Carlos nodded. _That's so dangerous!_

"We brought Tamika with us," Carlos added, hoping that would make Cecil a little calmer about it. "She's been to the library before and made it out."

 _Wonderful!_ Cecil scrawled, the sarcasm clearly bleeding through. _You put Tamika in danger as well. Marvelous._

"Cecil, you're being ridiculous," Carlos scolded. Cecil jerked upright and pointed at himself with an eyebrow raised, clearly showing that he didn't think _he_ was being ridiculous. In jabbing Carlos in the chest, he clearly showed exactly who he thought was the ridiculous one. Carlos opened his mouth to protest, but Cecil stomped out of the room before he could. With a sigh, Carlos let his head fall on the table.

That was not how he had expected things to go.

Carlos sighed and got himself some breakfast, figuring that it was best for him to let Cecil calm down before going to him. Cecil was definitely overreacting, in Carlos' opinion. Nothing had happened to them, and they had been careful. There was no use in panicking about what they had done after they did it. Cecil couldn't go back in time and change it (probably), so what use was there in worrying about it? None at all.

Carlos' phone buzzed in his pocket, alerting him that someone was calling. It was Dana. Carlos picked the phone up right away.

"Dana? Did you find anything?"

 _"Why else would I be calling?"_ Dana retorted with a teasing lilt to her voice.

"I don't know, but considering how messed up this damn town is, I'm not making any assumptions!" Carlos snapped back. There was a pause for a moment.

 _"Okay, what happened?"_ Dana demanded. Carlos blinked.

"What do you mean?"

 _"You're not acting normally, so I figured something's wrong,"_ Dana replied. _"You wouldn't snap at me like that if nothing happened."_

"Cecil found the x-rays," Carlos replied. There was no response. "And he knows that we went to the library. He's not very happy."

 _"He'll be happy if we get his voice back,"_ Dana replied. Carlos sighed.

"He thinks we're putting ourselves into danger. He doesn't like it."

 _"He's got a bit of a point there,"_ Dana admitted. _"What we're doing is dangerous. Not that I'm saying we shouldn't do it, but we are putting ourselves into danger."_

"Of course we are!" Carlos replied, exasperated. "Doing anything in this town puts you in danger. This town _is_ danger. But we still live, don't we?"

 _"Ah, a philosophical question,"_ Dana sighed happily. There was a pause. _"Shit, I sound like Cecil."_

"A fate to be avoided at all costs," Carlos teased dryly. Dana laughed.

 _"Well, anyway, I found something and I'm coming over in five, okay?"_

"See you then," Carlos replied, hanging up as Dana did. Figuring it was time to find Cecil, Carlos stood and went to Cecil's temporary room. Cecil was inside, scribbling madly on a piece of paper. Carlos laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Cecil?" he asked quietly. Cecil shooed Carlos away, continuing to scribble. "Cecil, Dana found something. She's coming over."

 _Be there in a few minutes,_ Cecil scrawled on another piece of paper, before going back to whatever he was writing. Carlos sighed and left. He didn't doubt that the long piece Cecil was writing was intended for him. Carlos would read it when Cecil gave it to him. Unless, of course, they had restored his voice by that point, with the information that they had gotten from going to the library. Where _nothing happened_. If that wasn't proof that Cecil was being ridiculous about his worrying, then nothing was.

There was a knock at the door. Dana. Carlos went downstairs, checked through the peep-hole, just in case, and opened the door. "What did you find?" he asked in lieu of a greeting.

"Potentially, the counterspell," Dana replied, pulling out a few papers. "Where's Cecil?"

There was a soft knock on the wall. Carlos and Dana both turned around to see Cecil standing at the bottom of the stairs. He stuffed his small stack of papers into Carlos' arms, verifying that they were indeed for him. Then Cecil turned to Dana with a politely interested expression.

"Well." Dana seemed to be barely holding back her amusement at the dispute. "If I'm not interrupting anything..."

"You're not," Carlos replied. Cecil nodded his agreement. "What do you have for us, Dana?" Turning to Cecil, Carlos added in an undertone, "I'll read these later." Cecil nodded, pulling a little notepad out of his pocket. Actually, the notepad looked too big to have fit in his pocket, and the pen he pulled out next was definitely too long to fit, but Carlos decided that, for the sake of his own mental stability, he should ignore that.

"Okay, so this is what I have," Dana stated, holding out the sheets of paper. Cecil snatched them quickly, flipping through. He looked up at Dana with wide eyes.

 _Is this what I think it is?_ Cecil scrawled. Dana grinned slightly.

"Yup," she replied. Cecil looked stunned.

"And what exactly is that?" Carlos asked, lost. Dana and Cecil turned to him.

"A ritual to counter the spell," Dana replied. "It's difficult, and you have to fight the caster for it to work, so we won't be able to do it easily, but it's possible, at least."

"When can we cast it?" Carlos asked. Dana and Cecil shrugged.

"As soon as I get the materials," Dana replied.

 _Shouldn't we try and figure out who the caster is first?_ Cecil suggested, scrawling the idea down on his little pad. _If we have to fight the caster to reverse the spell, shouldn't we have some idea of who we're up against?_

"You've got a point," Dana conceded. "Alright. I'll go get the supplies we need, and you two brainstorm who could have cast the spell. I'll come back in about twenty minutes and we'll reverse the spell then."

"Sounds good," Carlos replied. He shared a look with Cecil. Although neither of them spoke, Carlos knew they were thinking the same thing.

 _Almost there._


	6. Chapter 6

"So." Dana had left, Cecil had been scrawling things in his little notepad for the past five minutes, and Carlos had been reading the rant that Cecil had given him. "I sort of see your point." Cecil looked up with a curious look on his face. "I get that you don't want me putting myself in danger," Carlos added. "And I'd feel the same way if it were the other way around. I don't want you putting yourself into danger unnecessarily. But I don't agree that this was unnecessary. We need to get your voice back, and if this is how to do it, then I'm willing to do what it takes. You can't control me, Cecil."

Cecil began scribbling on his pad. _I'm not trying to control you, but I can't lose you again,_ he wrote, showing it to Carlos, who frowned.

"Again? You never lost me."

Cecil's cheeks blushed that strange hue that was far too purple for it to be caused by normal blood. His tattoos were a dark burgundy. _I almost did,_ he wrote. _With the bowling alley._

"Cecil," Carlos sighed. "I'll try my hardest to stay alive, but I will do what I have to."

 _I don't want my voice back if it means losing you,_ Cecil wrote angrily. _Do you think I want to live without you? I don't want that. I want you. With or without my voice._

"And I don't want to live with myself if I don't do anything to get your voice back," Carlos retorted. "I won't just sit back and do nothing."

 _I don't want you hurting yourself!_ Cecil wrote with huge, angry letters. Carlos sighed.

"Well, it's done," he told Cecil. "Dana and I already went to the library and got the documents. There's nothing you can do about it now."

 _I can stop you from doing something stupid next time,_ Cecil wrote darkly. _I don't want anything happening to you, Carlos. I do what I can, but I can only do so much._

"I know, Cecil," Carlos replied with a sigh. "And I appreciate it, I promise. But I need to be able to do some things on my own. I'm not a child, and I've been in Night Vale for over a year now. I can take care of myself." Cecil raised an eyebrow at that. "I can!" Carlos protested. Cecil sighed. "Why don't we start figuring out who might have cast this spell?"

Cecil nodded and handed his notepad over to Carlos, flipped back on the previous page. Carlos studied it. It was a short list of people who could have potentially cursed Cecil. Written at the bottom, as if Cecil had expected Carlos' question, was written, _These are all the people with the strength to cast this curse who aren't friends of mine. Or me._

"Should we just include everyone, whether or not they're your friend?" Carlos asked cautiously. Cecil grinned and scrawled something else.

 _The only people powerful enough that I left out are myself, Old Woman Josie, and Dana,_ he had written. Carlos nodded. He could trust the two of them not to curse Cecil, and obviously Cecil hadn't cursed himself.

"Okay." Carlos scanned over the list. "I don't think the City Council did this."

 _You're right,_ Cecil wrote. _I'm sure they have better ways of getting rid of me._ That wasn't quite what Carlos meant, but it was true, so he let it go without comment.

"What about Steve Carlsberg?" Carlos asked, scanning the list and seeing that he wasn't on it. Cecil shook his head.

 _He wouldn't,_ he replied, scrawling across the pad. Carlos frowned.

"You two don't seem to like each other very much. Are you sure?"

 _He couldn't do it, even if he wanted to,_ Cecil added. _He's not powerful enough. Steve Carlsberg isn't very good at casting spells._ That reassured Carlos more than Cecil's conviction. He didn't trust Steve Carlsberg not to do it, but if he couldn't physically cast the spell, then it obviously couldn't have been him.

 _My guess is it's someone from Desert Bluffs,_ Cecil wrote, making a face as he wrote the name of the hated town. Carlos rolled his eyes.

"Why would someone from Desert Bluffs curse you?" he'd asked. "That's just you being ridiculous and prejudiced."

Cecil rolled his eyes. _You can never trust someone from Desert Bluffs,_ he wrote with conviction. Carlos sighed and ignored him.

"I doubt it was Station Management," he offered, pointing at Cecil's list. "They haven't shown any displeasure in your reporting recently, and if they were displeased, I think taking your voice wouldn't be their first option."

 _You're right, I'm sure they have better options than taking my voice,_ Cecil agreed, and again, Carlos really wasn't that reassured by Cecil's response. But he was getting used to Night Vale, and he knew that basic human rights could occasionally be overlooked in the town. Which, yes, was terrible, but Carlos just had to learn to go with it.

Oh, God, Carlos was going _native_.

Carlos took a step back from his slightly horrifying revelation and looked at Cecil's list again. It was fairly short.

"Do any of these people have reason to curse you?" Carlos asked. "If it's illegal, they'd have to have a really good reason to do so."

Cecil frowns in thought. _I can't think of a reason for any of them,_ he admits. _But someone had to do it._

"Maybe we're being too narrow," Carlos suggested. "Who would want to do this to you?"

Cecil shrugged. _Someone from Desert Bluffs?_ he wrote. Carlos ignored that.

"Steve Carlsberg?" he offered again. Cecil shook his head.

 _He wouldn't do this to me,_ he replied. Carlos had no idea where this faith in Steve Carlsberg was coming from. _Anyway, he couldn't,_ Cecil reiterated.

"But maybe he could get someone else to do it for him," Carlos countered. "The person who wanted this done didn't necessarily do it."

 _I'm telling you right now, this will turn out to be someone from Desert Bluffs,_ Cecil wrote firmly. Carlos rolled his eyes.

"Well, I guess we'll find out when the spell is broken," Carlos replied with a sigh. Just on time, there was a knock on the door. It was Dana.

"Are you ready?" Carlos asked Cecil. He nodded. Carlos opened the door.

"I've got everything we need," Dana said as she entered the house. "Are you two ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," Carlos replied. Dana put her bag of supplies on the couch.

"Then let's get started."


	7. Chapter 7

Dana was all business as she started laying out the things for the spell. "Cecil, I'll need you to help me with some of the preparation, then we'll need you to sit in the middle of the bloodstone circle. Carlos, just...stay over there for now."

"Will do," Carlos replied. He knew next to nothing about spells and their casting, so he wasn't planning on doing anything in this spell, considering how much was riding on it. He watched as Dana directed Cecil across the room, placing things in a large circle. "Do you want me to move furniture out of the way?" Carlos asked. Dana looked up at him.

"That would be great," she replied. Carlos immediately got to work pushing his couches back towards the walls and pulling his side table into the kitchen. When he was finished, the room looked as if it had been hit by a mild hurricane, but Dana and Cecil had more room to set up their spell, which was the important part.

"Thanks," Dana said, placing candles in a large circle. "Now, we'll need you for the spell."

"What?" Carlos demanded, looking from Cecil to Dana. "I don't know anything about casting spells!"

"That's okay," Dana replied as Cecil began lighting the candles. "The spell is powerful, so it needs an anchor."

"An anchor?" Carlos repeated dumbly. Dana nodded.

"Cecil is the focus, since we're casting the spell on him. I'm the caster, since I'll be the one doing the actual casting. And you'll be the anchor. You just need to keep us here."

"What do you mean?" Carlos asked, feeling a little nervous about this.

"This spell is so powerful that, if we don't have an anchor, Cecil and I could drift away. You're here to make sure we don't. All you have to do is concentrate on what keeps you here. As long as you concentrate, it'll all be okay."

"That's not exactly reassuring," Carlos replied nervously. Cecil put a hand on Carlos' shoulder and handed him the notebook.

 _I believe in you,_ it read simply. Carlos took a deep breath and nodded.

"I'll do it," he told Dana. She smiled softly.

"Okay. Cecil's going to sit in the center of the bloodstone circle." Cecil sat in the exact center of the circle, crossing his legs into the lotus position. "Carlos, you need to sit due west." Cecil pointed which way was west - Carlos didn't ask how he knew without a compass - and Carlos sat down where Dana directed him. "And I'm sitting to the east," Dana finished, sitting down on the opposite side of the circle from Carlos.

"So I need to concentrate on what keeps me here?" Carlos asked. Dana nodded. "Here as in...?" he asked, his voice trailing off.

"As in Night Vale," Dana replied. "Do you need a moment or-"

"I've got it," Carlos answered, staring intently at Cecil. He was what kept Carlos in Night Vale, no matter what happened. Cecil was facing north, but he turned and flashed Carlos a quick smile before turning back. Carlos concentrated on that smile, letting flitting thoughts of Dana enter his mind, as well as thoughts of Erika and Old Woman Josie. He thought briefly of John Peters (you know, the farmer?) and of Big Rico of Big Rico's Pizza and of Tamika Flynn, concentrating on all of his friends in Night Vale. Carlos shut out any thoughts of the horrible things that could happen in Night Vale, focusing on the good, on Officer Marcel, his Sheriff's Secret Police officer, and the other officers who were joining him to watch Carlos' house while Cecil was there.

"I'm going to start the spell," Dana said softly. Carlos nodded, continuing to concentrate. Dana began murmuring in a language Carlos didn't understand as Carlos continued to concentrate. Cecil hissed in a sharp breath, which almost caused Carlos to lose focus. But Cecil relaxed quickly after that, so Carlos went back to his internal litany of reasons he stayed in Night Vale.

Before long, Carlos could _feel_ the magic Dana was casting, like it was some sort of thick, cloying perfume in the air. It smelled faintly of spices and blood, a fairly repulsive mix. But the power of the spell was intoxicating. Carlos found it harder and harder to focus on anchoring himself - and, by extension, the others - to Night Vale. But he couldn't stop. Dana had made that quite clear. Carlos pushed away thoughts of the power of the spell and instead focused on Cecil, Dana, Old Woman Josie, Tamika, Erika, John Peters (you know, the farmer?), Big Rico, Officer Marcel, all of his friends in Night Vale... He had to focus.

Dana's chanting grew louder and louder. Carlos pressed his eyes closed to concentrate. Cecil looked pained, which was ruining Carlos' focus. As much as he hated it, he had to close his eyes and focus.

Dana was yelling. Carlos was concentrating. Cecil was gasping, sounding pained. Carlos didn't look at him, he couldn't. He had to focus. He had to _focus_!

Dana screamed the end of the spell. Carlos forced himself to keep thinking about Night Vale. Cecil let out a hoarse cry. A wave of power flooded over Carlos like a tsunami, almost pushing him backwards. Dana stopped chanting, Cecil's labored breaths returned to a normal rate, and Carlos cautiously opened his eyes.

"You did a good job," Dana told him, sounding exhausted. "You can stop now."

Cautiously, Carlos stopped his litany of names and took a deep, shuddering breath. "Did it work?" he asked Dana. She shrugged.

"It should have," she replied. "But I don't know where the caster is."

Cecil let out a panicked squeak. Carlos and Dana looked at him quickly to see him pointing forward. In front of them was a horrifyingly familiar figure.

"Hello," said a horrible voice as teeth and lips curled into a terrifying smile. Carlos' eyes went wide.

If not for the eyes - the empty, soulless, black eyes - Carlos would have thought he was staring at Cecil.


	8. Chapter 8

"You're Cecil's double, aren't you?" Dana asked, standing. Cecil stood shakily as well. Not-Cecil's horrible smile widened. His shirt, Carlos realized, wasn't red as he had originally thought; it was completely soaked in blood.

"My name is Kevin," not-Cecil told them, still with that horrible smile. "And you must be Intern Dana! Or maybe you're her double, Vanessa? She was my intern, you know."

"I'm Dana. I'd never want to be _your_ intern," Dana retorted, her eyes flashing. Kevin's eyes turned to Carlos.

"But you're new," he told him, his smile fading slightly. "Who are you?"

"That's none of your business," Carlos replied firmly, standing as well. Perhaps he didn't know much about magic, but he knew better than to give a known enemy his name. Kevin laughed, but it was a clearly forced sound.

"No matter," he replied, although he sounded bitter about it. "I'll figure you out later."

"You cursed Cecil," Dana stated calmly. Kevin turned back to her, beaming.

"Yes I did!" he replied, his voice going back to being horribly cheerful. "I'm the most powerful with magic in my town, so I was chosen to do it!"

"What town is that?" Carlos asked, dragging Kevin's attention back to him. He laughed.

"Why, Desert Bluffs, of course!" Carlos saw Cecil give him a meaningful look out of the corner of his eye. It seemed Cecil had been right about Desert Bluffs after all.

"Why did you do this?" Dana asked. Kevin frowned, looking confused.

"Why, because it's part of my job!" he replied. "Strex asked me to do it, and-"

"Strex?" Dana repeated, looking slightly confused herself. Kevin shook his head, chuckling slightly.

"StrexCorp, of course! The corporation that owns our town! They told me to perform the curse on Night Vale's radio host. It's my job to do as they say, so of course, I did it."

"What do you do in Desert Bluffs?" Carlos asked. Kevin giggled.

"Anything Strex wants me to do! But mostly, I do the radio show. I think Strex wants me to do it in Night Vale too, but of course, we had to get rid of your pesky radio host first."

"Strex had no jurisdiction in Night Vale," Dana snapped. Kevin shrugged.

"Not for now!" he replied, sounding horribly cheery. "But soon they will!"

"Your corrupt company will never have _any_ power over Night Vale. At least not for long," Dana snarled. Kevin frowned.

"I'm afraid that's not what Strex said at all," he said with a slightly nervous-sounding giggle. "After all, you don't even have a Voice!"

"We will soon," Carlos stated confidently. Kevin laughed.

"You think you can defeat me?" he asked. Dana smirked.

"Yeah," she replied, and without giving Kevin any time to think, she threw a spell at him. Kevin barely managed to stop it in time.

"Well that's not very nice!" Kevin called, but Carlos could see that he was a little anxious. Dana decided to forgo talking and just sent another spell flying at Kevin. Soon, their spells were just flying back and forth at each other, sending lights and sparks all over the room. Carlos and Cecil shared a worried look; they couldn't even see what was going on in the fighting.

Finally, the smoke and light cleared. Dana and Kevin were staring at each other, both breathing hard. "You can't beat me," Kevin taunted. Dana hurled another spell at him, but he blocked it. "But I can beat you."

Almost too quick to be seen, Kevin sent a spell flying at Dana that congealed into goo as it hit her. Dana was thrown back and pinned to the floor.

"I'm more powerful than any of you in this town," Kevin bragged. "None of you has a _hope_ against me. I could beat any one of you with my eyes closed. You, Dana, are helpless against me, and whoever you are" - Kevin had looked up at Carlos - "I know you can't do anything against me. If you could, you'd have done it by now. None of you can beat me, you never could. I'm-"

Without warning, a spell hit Kevin in the gut. He looked down at himself, stunned. Behind Carlos, Cecil was standing with his hands out in an offensive position.

"But I already defeated you," Kevin said softly, sounding confused. Sparks were exploding from his stomach, where the spell had hit. Carlos knew nothing about the spell or how it worked, but he could tell it was something serious. "I defeated you!" Kevin repeated.

"Apparently not," Dana snapped. The sparks were increasing in number, and tiny flames were licking up Kevin's bloody shirt.

"Oh," Kevin whispered as his stomach lit on fire. Carlos watched in horror as the flames engulfed Kevin's entire body. With a scream, he disappeared, but the flames remained.

"Carlos, you should duck," Dana said in a cautious voice. Carlos looked away from the fire to look down at her. She had turned her head away and looked slightly panicked.

"What do you mean?" Carlos asked. Where Kevin's body had been was an inferno. The house was starting to shake.

"Get down!" Dana yelled. Before Carlos could do anything, Cecil had thrown himself on top of Carlos and was pinning him to the ground.

"What-?" Carlos tried to ask, but Cecil pushed him down before he could get the sentence out. The trembling of the ground grew more violent and, in that instant, Carlos knew what was going to happen in a burst of horrible clarity. With a surge of strength, he flipped himself and Cecil, so he was on top. Using his own body, he shielded as much of Cecil as he could.

And then the world exploded.


	9. Chapter 9

When Carlos came to after the explosion, it was to the sound of a murmured conversation. One of the voices belonged to Dana, and the other belonged to-

"Hello, my beautiful, brave Carlos," Cecil said softly as Carlos opened his eyes. His knuckles brushed gently along Carlos' cheek.

"Your voice," Carlos whispered hoarsely. Dana handed him a glass of water, which he gratefully began to gulp down. "It's back."

"Thanks to you and Dana," Cecil replied, smiling softly. "Without you two, I'd never have gotten it back."

"Kevin!" Carlos remembered suddenly, trying to sit up. Pain erupted across his back as he did so. Cecil's eyes sparkled with tears as he softly pushed Carlos back down to a reclining position.

"Kevin's gone. He fled, probably to Desert Bluffs," Dana explained. "Cecil's spell clearly did some damage, but we don't know how much." Carlos frantically looked around his house for evidence of the explosion, but it seemed as undamaged as it had been before. "It didn't affect the house," Dana added, noticing Carlos' concern. "The spell only affects living beings."

"But I couldn't confine it to only hurting Kevin, since I didn't have my voice," Cecil added, looking horribly guilty. "I was going to protect you and take the brunt of it, and then you flipped us over and _you_ protected _me_ and-" Cecil was almost in tears. "I'm sorry, Carlos."

"What happened?" Carlos asked Dana, looking up at her. She seemed mostly unscathed, although, as Carlos looked closer, she seemed to have some light burns on the side of her face. Cecil seemed unharmed.

"You protected Cecil, but the flames hurt you," Dana told Carlos. "Nothing too serious. You have a couple of minor burns on the back of your legs, and some more burns on your back. They're a bit more serious, but they'll heal. You might have some minor scars, but nothing too bad."

"I'm sorry," Cecil whispered, tracing his hand over Carlos' cheek again. He had some bandages on his hand, Carlos noticed. He could remember Cecil placing his hands on Carlos' shoulders, trying to flip them back over so he could be on top, protecting Carlos instead of the other way around.

"It's not your fault," Carlos replied, reaching up and tracing one of Cecil's tattoos. They were a grayish-blue, which Carlos had learned meant he was upset. A few more tears slipped from Cecil's eyes.

"You shouldn't have gotten hurt," Cecil whispered. "It should have been me, I-"

"I'm glad it was me and not you," Carlos interrupted. "I don't want you getting hurt any more than you want me getting hurt. And you were the one hurt through most of this. It was my turn this time."

"Oh, _Carlos_ ," Cecil whispered, breaking into full-fledged sobs. Carlos immediately reached up and pulled Cecil into a comforting hug, trying to move his back as little as possible as he did so. Cecil sobbed onto his shoulder unabashedly.

"I've already told Grandma Josie what happened," Dana told Carlos over the sound of Cecil's tears. "And the Sheriff's Secret Police. Cecil and I gave them statements, and if they're going to take yours, they have to wait at least 24 hours after you wake up, considering the circumstances of your injury. As long as they abide by their own rules, you've got a day before they can bother you."

"Thank you, Dana," Carlos replied, hoping it wasn't too obvious a dismissal. Dana's lips curled into a slight smile.

"I'll come back over later, shall I? After the show? I'll do it for one more night."

"Thank you," Carlos repeated. Dana slipped out of the room. Cecil lifted his head off of Carlos' shoulder, which was now soaked in tears.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "This is my fault. If Strex hadn't cursed me, then-"

"You can't blame yourself for being cursed," Carlos immediately countered. "That wasn't your doing."

"What if they try something again?" Cecil demanded, looking on the verge of bursting into tears again. "What if they do something else and you get caught in the crossfire again?"

"Then I get caught in the crossfire," Carlos replied stubbornly. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help you and keep you safe, Cecil. I think we've discussed this already."

"I don't want anything to happen to you," Cecil whispered. Carlos cupped the side of Cecil's jaw.

"I feel the same way about you," he replied. Cecil's tattoos slowly began changing from a stormy blue to a rosier pink.

"Oh, _Carlos_ ," he whispered again, swooping down and pressing his lips against Carlos'. It was, Carlos realized, the first kiss they had shared since Cecil was attacked, except for a few quick pecks. Not kissing Cecil was a terrible idea, Carlos decided, and he had to rectify it as soon as possible.

"I love you," Carlos whispered firmly as they split apart. "I will always love you. No matter what."

"I love you too," Cecil replied, pressing a tender kiss to Carlos' temple. "Always."

"Will you move in with me?" Carlos asked suddenly. Cecil's face lit up.

"Permanently?" he asked, looking as if Christmas had come early.

"For as long as you want," Carlos replied. Cecil beamed. "And you should probably move your things out of the spare bedroom into my room as well," Carlos added, taking the last leap, considering what he had already done. All three of Cecil's eyes went huge.

"You want me to sleep in your bed? Every night?"

"Every night," Carlos confirmed. Cecil threw his arms around Carlos' neck in an uninhibited show of affection.

"I love you, Carlos!" Cecil squealed. Carlos laughed.

"I know." He pressed a kiss to Cecil's cheek. "I love you too."


	10. Chapter 10

_A few days later_

"Carlos?" Cecil called as he entered the apartment. "I'm home, darling Carlos!"

"I'm in the lab," Carlos called back, bent over a test tube on his lab bench. "I liked the show."

"Thank you, my dear!" Cecil replied, entering the lab. "Are you sure you're ready to be working in the lab?"

"I'm fine, Cecil," Carlos replied with a fond smile. The burns on his back were almost completely healed, and his legs were totally fine. Carlos attributed at least part of that to the mysterious concoction that Cecil slathered on his burns every night. Whatever it was, it made his skin tingle and made the burns heal a lot faster than they should have.

"I just don't want you to be in any pain," Cecil replied, sounding concerned. Carlos smiled as he turned back around, pressing a kiss to Cecil's lips. Cecil smiled under his kiss.

"I'm not in any pain," Carlos replied. "I promise."

"Will you come in with me and sit down anyway?" Cecil asked. As if in response, Carlos' experiment fizzed and popped, causing Carlos to swear softly and neutralize it.

"Why not?" he replied as he turned back to Cecil, disposing of the chemicals. "I'll just wash up and meet you there."

Cecil smiled as he left the lab, going to the living room. Carlos washed his hands thoroughly, slid out of his lab coat and into another, cleaner one (what? Cecil liked the lab coat!), and entered the living room.

Cecil was making disparaging noises at his phone while sitting on the couch. He shook his head, scoffing at it, as Carlos sat next to him. "What is it?" Carlos asked, leaning over his shoulder.

"An email from _Steve Carlsberg_ ," Cecil spat. "Telling me all about how he thinks there's a secret government hideout near Dark Owl Records, when _everyone knows_ it's by the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex. Ugh."

"What happened between you two?" Carlos demanded. "I mean, you two are always at each other's throats, but then you and Old Woman Josie were both insistent that he wasn't the one that attacked you. I don't get it."

"Carlos..." Cecil sighed. Carlos supposed it was good that Cecil was currently unwilling to deny Carlos anything, as he still blamed himself for Carlos' injuries. " _Steve Carlsberg_ and I... We go back a long way."

"I've got time," Carlos replied. Cecil sighed. "Please, Cecil," Carlos added, not above taking advantage of Cecil's inability to say no to Carlos on most occasions. "I've told you about my past. I just want to know a little about yours."

"Okay." Cecil sighed deeply. "I met _Steve Carlsberg_ when we were both in kindergarten, and we just never got along. You know how it is, one kid spills paint on the other's painting of a ritualistic sacrifice, next thing you know, they're pulling hair and making fun of third eyes and scratching each other like wild jackalopes." Carlos wasn't quite sure what a jackalope was, but he didn't think he wanted to know. "Then the kids are threatening to declare a blood feud even though you need to be at least ten years old to declare a blood feud and they're only five, and... Well, you know how kids can be."

"Sure," Carlos replied, quite certain that none of the animosity he had felt when he was younger with childhood companions had ever gotten that serious. "So, what else happened?"

"Well, we never got along very well," Cecil replied. "All through elementary school and middle school and high school. And I took some time to visit Europe, remember? Did you hear that show?"

"Yeah, I did," Carlos replied, not mentioning that the countries Cecil had mentioned visiting didn't exist. "What does that have to do with it?"

"Well, when I got back, I found out that _Steve Carlsberg_ was dating my sister," Cecil spat. Carlos' eyebrows shot up. That was _not_ what he had been expecting. "And then they _kept_ dating and they got _married_ ," Cecil added, making a disgusted face. "My sister had already been married, which is how my niece Janice was born, but then her husband disappeared and was assumed dead, so she married _Steve Carlsberg_ , which was a terrible mistake in my opinion. He's not good enough for my sister _or_ my niece."

"Wait," Carlos requested. Cecil stopped, a disgusted expression still on his face. "Steve Carlsberg is your _brother-in-law_?"

"Unfortunately," Cecil replied in a dirty voice. Carlos burst into laughter. "What?"

"I always thought he tried to kill you or broke up with you or something and now I find out he's just one of your _in-laws_!"

"It's not funny!" Cecil protested. "We don't get along about _anything_. You should see family dinners. My sister barely invites me over anymore unless he's not going to be there."

"Steve Carlsberg is your brother-in-law," Carlos repeated, shaking his head and chuckling. Cecil gave him a dirty look. "Sorry," Carlos added quickly. "It's just not what I expected."

Cecil made a face. "Can we stop talking about _Steve Carlsberg_?" he asked. Carlos wondered if it were possible for Cecil to say Steve's name without sounding like he wanted him dead. "I'd really rather not discuss him any more than possible."

"Yeah, fine," Carlos replied. "We'll stop talking about it."

"Good." Cecil leaned over to rest his head on Carlos' shoulder. "I'm glad that I'm dating you and not someone terrible like _Steve Carlsberg_. I can't imagine what I would do if I had to date _him_."

"Well, luckily you won't have to," Carlos replied, smiling and putting an arm around Cecil's waist. "I'm not planning on going anywhere any time soon."

For once, Cecil said nothing about the dangers of Night Vale, nor anything existential or ridiculous. "Neither am I," he replied simply.

And that was that.

* * *

 **And that's the end! Thanks to everyone for reading, and I'll see you next time!**


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